to what binds us, those nations operating within the rules based international order. we have and we will continue to offer wide ranging support from providing sophisticated combined arms capabilities to intelligence, the training of ukrainian forces to be more effective on the battlefield through a global effort. more than 6000 ukrainians are being trained right now at 40 different locations, training locations, and 65 courses in 33 nations on 3 continents. that is all happening right now today. since the beginning of the war, the united states is trained over 11000 ukrainians and combined ours maneuver and staff training us training at for it has created 12 and over of at times nearly 5000 operators that are fighting those machines right now along with their combined arm staffs, we are currently training 3 battalions,

a tank pertaining to territorial national guard by the time. so all in all the international effort is trained almost 60000 ukrainian soldiers with his current operation and many of whom are engaged in close combat. as we stand here today, last week, the united states release and now that ukrainian security assistance initiative package totaling several $1000000000.00 to building this package procures critical capabilities, including patriot munitions, hot air defense systems, artillery, rocket, munitions, maintenance, sustainment support, much more. additionally, this week we released our latest drop down package of $325000000.00 from our current stocks. we are providing ukraine or defense, munitions. gimler is long range artillery. our tell around is 155, bradley strikers and many other capabilities over the past year. we have seen the strength or so if you crane because of the international coalition and the impact

of our collective support along with the cards, the training people we see ukrainian forces, the plant displaying exceptional skill in operating complex systems like patriot armored vehicles and high marks we see ukrainians effectively leveraging at the armor weapons, advanced munitions and sophisticated air defense systems. our commitment to ukraine extends far beyond the here and the now it is not defined by time or convenience, but it is defined by the principles of democracy. freedom and international rule of law is a pledge that upholds international order to ensure that every nation, big or small to live in peace, enjoining its rightful sovereignty without fear of unprovoked aggression. as the president of the united states and secretary defense, austin of consistently stated over and over again, the united states remains committed to supporting ukraine for as long as it takes,

we will continue to provide ukraine with the means to fight until russia ends this unprovoked aggression thank you, and i look forward to your questions. thank you both gentlemen. first questions. go to down them off. washington. post a gentleman. good afternoon. thanks for your time today. uh, question for secretary austin, please. uh we'd started to see battlefield losses. i missed you. create in counter offensive, a merge online and otherwise uh to, to what degree do they concern you? and do you anticipate additional commitments of us fighting vehicles to bolster the counter offensive as it moves forward? and then for general, milly in light of his counter offenses, there's the expectation that this could be a grinding bloody spot. it takes many months to what degree and what kind of patients do you anticipate will be necessary? not just for ukrainians, but the american people and tax payers in to you. uh, and the military lines that is supporting ukraine has this goes on. thank you. as

nightstands uh, regarding the battle so losses of vehicles and equipment is a war. so we know that uh, there will be uh, battle damage on both sides. uh and uh, you know, what's important is that, you know, the ukrainians have the ability to recover the equipment that's been damaged, repair work were possible, get that equipment back into the fight. and also that they have the we have the means to continue to push capability forward, so there will continue to be federal damage. uh, i think the russians have shown us that same 5 vehicles about a 1000 times from 10 different angles, but quite frankly, but ukrainians have still have a lot of combat capability combat power. so as you've indicated,

this will continue to be a tough fight. as we anticipate it, and i believe that the, the, the, the element that does the best in terms of sustainment, i will, uh, will probably have the advantage at the end of the day. so our focus is on making sure that we continue to push forward. what ukraine needs in order to be successful, a sedan, um, it would be very premature to put in a uh, estimates of how long time on an operation of this magnitude. there are several 100000 russian troops dug in and prepared positions all along the front line. and ukraine has begun their attack and they are making steady progress. this is a very difficult fight. it is a very violent fight, and it will likely take, consider the amount of time at high cost, but at the end of the day, as an employee, $1.00 said tomorrow is to the physical is 3,

is to one and the ukranian morale, their leadership, their scale their tenacity, their resilience is very high, rushing on the, the russians. on the other hand, their leadership is, is not necessarily coherent their troops, morales, not high, they've been sitting in defensive positions, so many of them don't even know why they're there. so we'll see, it's too early to tell, but we'll see how this plays out. thank you. german. let's go to the back. here is 88th floor in. no thank you very much for the annoying from jam tv that yes, 60 austin. one question. there's a growing frustration among eastern european allies that they believe there's not enough support from your government departments administration towards a ukrainian membership in nato. why are you so hesitant to give any more concrete signs that ukraine will enter the lines and that there will be some more promises which go beyond the budapest? so clauses, thank you all things and i thank you. you heard

a say over and over again that we continue to support ukraine's open door is excuse me, made those open door policy in each. each country will have a different path to, to, to accession. and so again, i'll let and i will further say that we remain uh where we were with budapest and uh and so uh, as, as we go forward here, i think you'll see a allies in, in partners continue to work together to provide ukraine, what it needs to be successful and also provide assurance is going for the next question. we're going to carl about voice of america. mr. secretary, chairman, thank you for doing this. mr. secretary, what has the us committed to provide to the f? 16 training program for ukrainian, specifically, trainers,

munitions jets. and can you provide us with any more details on the overall? at 16 training plans and german mili, the indictment of former president, the us president trump, includes a transcript of him discussing a classified document about plans to attack the country house. concerning is it to you that a former president or any us official for that matter is willing to discuss classified military plans and consider using those plans to settle personal scores? spice car. let me start with the 16 question here. the 1st, let me say how much i really appreciate a benevolent denmark stepping up to lead this consortium. and they are outlining the, the, the plan for training. and there are a number of other countries that have joined in, in volunteer to, to help in this effort. and so this work continues. we were brief

today on, on, uh, kind of the outline of the plan and the steps for, you know, for the way ahead. and i have to tell you that, uh they, you know, 30 days that we've been after this. they have leaned into this and in our major way . so as you know, the united states uh will have to provide uh, uh, approval for the training and also some other aspects of this is as you would expect. uh, we continue to work with uh, uh, the netherlands in denmark as a, as i put this plan together. but uh, but again, this will take some time, but uh, but they're really moving out in a very impressive way and, and they're getting support from other partners in the, in the u. d. c. c g and carla, thank you for the afternoon to make no comment. i appreciate that the it's, it's totally inappropriate for me to ever make a comment about an ongoing federal investigation. so i'm not going to make any

comment to. i will focus on my job and that's protecting the constitution, united states, and protecting our country. and in this particular case, and supporting ukraine and they're fighting for you. think the german final question will go to the tale or cost you a solution. i sent you you said a lot about the grant in advance of each you inside to do to get from up sort of existing bonds may be equal to change is of a of help. and they've been new type of weapons united states could provide to and the, what the problem knows is then if 6 to end abrams good to be on is that data to of ukraine? that's 72. is that for me or the chairman? well yeah, we had a, a session today with

a variety of countries where early in the planning process i, i think there's a, an intent by uh, several countries that have stepped up to take the lead and other ones and, and denmark in terms of the planning so there's a lot of work left to be done, i think would be premature to give a specific date on any time that f. 16 is there any other type of advanced aircraft would be employed in combat? and ukraine is, does a lot of work to do, you have to do language training after do pilot training. you've got to get all the systems set in place. so those, those wheels are in motion. but where are ways from a completion of that project? terms of the lessons learned, there are key lessons learned in every fight and, and we always encourage our partners to capture those lessons learned and, and adapt as require, you know, fights or dynamic or of squads and platoons actually fight the fight. everybody else on the battlefield supports and so what those quads and put tunes are doing

and seeing and learning how they are employing, supporting fires and then all of that. and then we incorporate those insights into the training that we're doing for a follow on forces. and so you ukrainian military is a learning learning organization and an adaptive organization. and we see continuous add up station on a daily basis. it's been that way from the very start and as things as the battlefield dynamics have changed. over the weeks and months we've worked with the ukrainians. we've also changed in terms of the kinds of things that we're providing them and it's been successful. and the evidence that has been successful is because it is can be seen in where the, where the ukrainians are today on the battlefield. mister secretary gentlemen, we thank you very much gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our press briefing. thank you. thanks everybody. rough to get some analysis. now on what we heard the from us defense secretary

lloyd austin and the joint chiefs chase. it's dr. norma. milly, what's bringing out corresponding? terry schultz followed that press conference from nice to headquarters. terry, what stood out to you from what's been said the i think one of the big themes for today was air defense. there's a new agreement being signed on providing more air defense to ukraine. and of course, we see every day and every night, this relentless assault by russia on civilians in ukraine, on the civilian infrastructure. and on the supplies of weapons. these very expensive, valuable weapons that are being sent by allies all the time, easily destroyed by russia from the air. so this is really crucial to ukraine, to save lives, and to save the equipment they need to keep fighting. and now we've heard from, from secretary austin that there will be more emphasis on air defense and will also be hearing more about that as nato goes into its defense ministers meeting. this is some of the things that they're going to talk about. what kind of of missiles can

they provide you? crane for the equipment is already there. patriots for example, which are providing very effective. but russia has stepped up this air campaign on ukraine, and they're going to need more defense through the possible length of the bowl. and the difficulty of the war was mentioned many times in the context of what did you make of lloyd austin, announcing that many countries had signed multi get commitment to you this is really important for ukraine and also important for the united states leading this effort. this 13th meeting of the ukraine contacts group, drawing up support for ukraine. so that's very encouraging for everyone in this effort that, that countries are committing to stay for years. remember, at the beginning of both russia thought it would be a quick war, but even on the western side, even on ukraine's allies, they didn't think or they didn't know how long this war would go on as it continues to dry gone. and neither side uh, appears to be making a lot of progress. uh, you know, everyone has to understand that these very expensive contributions are going to

have to continue and even increase if you crane is not only going to hold the territory that it has, but pushed russia out and regain all its territory. so this is something they're very much looking for a long term commitment. both. this is important and keep, but it's also important in washington, both sitting outside of that room and wanting to guides the commitments. for instance, if you're watching from cable, anywhere in the crime. taking the temperature of the room. terry, how did you judge that level of commitment from austin and from milly they both austin and milly are military guys. pretty resolute. it would be hard to to read any disappointment because they're simply matter of fact guys. but i mean, if you're in a room with them, if you're these other defense ministers, you're going to step right up. so i think that they truly are encouraged by the, the ongoing support from other countries. and this is something that we hear constantly here in brussels. both on the european union side and here on the nato side, you don't see countries backing away from their commitment to ukraine. whether that's in training, which we heard a lot.